Survey of teachers 2010:support to improve teaching practice

In 2010 the annual survey of teachers, conducted on behalf of the General Teaching Council for England (GTC), explored teachers’ experiences of the different forms of support they receive to help them maintain and develop their teaching practice. Teachers were asked for their views on the following: • their participation in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) • their involvement in activities to improve teaching practice • use of observation and feedback • use of research • performance management, and • the professional standards. The survey gathered the views of a nationally representative sample of teachers, drawn from the GTC’s Register of Teachers, and was conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). The final response figure for the main sample was 4,392, which was 33 per cent of the 13,500 teachers contacted. In addition to providing analysis of the basic frequencies of the responses, NFER conducted more sophisticated analyses, including factor analysis and statistical modelling. The key finding was that, on the whole, teachers had a positive attitude towards practice improvement and almost all felt that they had a professional responsibility to maintain and improve their practice. Teachers also felt strongly that they should have an entitlement to time and support in order to meet this responsibility. About two-thirds of teachers were positive about the impact of professional development and learning activities on their teaching, and on the learning of their pupils.